Thursday, January 5, 2012

"As the wars of the September 11 era pass, Mr Obama said America should abandon its traditional capability of fighting two major wars at once and focus on becoming a "leaner and smarter" fighting force with an emphasis on counter terrorism, reconnaissance, cyber warfare and maintaining a nuclear deterrent.

In a rare appearance in the Pentagon press briefing room, Mr Obama however insisted that the US military would comfortably maintain its military supremacy, with proposed spending still larger than that of the next 10 countries combined. The cuts would represent less than 10 per cent of the current annual defence budget of $650 billion.

In one of the most significant strategy shifts since the end of the Second World War, the review US will turn its focus away from Europe towards the Asian Pacific region to counter the rising influence of China.

"Our military will be leaner but the world must know the United States is going to maintain our military superiority with armed forces that are agile, flexible and ready for the full range of contingencies and threats," he said at a news conference at the Pentagon flanked by Leon Panetta, the US defence secretary, and senior generals.

He said the US had to "look past nation-building with large ground forces" and scale down "outdated Cold War systems"."